[Sigia-l] is it just me, or is it really hard to find IAs right now?

[Thomas Vander Wal]

On Mar 31, 2005 4:48 PM, Dave <dheller at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi freelancers,
> 
> I've been a hiring manager on both the agency side and now for a
> software company. I have to say that freelancers to me are a waste of
> my time. Why? B/c it is knowledge unretained. While I appreciate why
> freelancing is useful to freelancers and it has the advantage to the
> employer of being lower risk, if the person doesn't have the
> possibility of staying and remaining a part of the greater whole, then
> it just doesn't work for me.

I hear what you are saying.  But, maybe the model needs to change. 
Retention of the information is tough, as you explain below those
being hired in-house are also flipping.  Perhaps the model needs to
extend the project from just beyond the task needed, to providing
documentation regarding the decision path taken and reasoning behind
decisions.  This should ease some of the knowledge lost.

Most importantly there is a second step needed.  There must be a
follow-up phase.  This may be one or two months following the rollout,
or up to six months, but there must be follow-up.  Why?  The IA
(whatever they are calling themself) should be required to come back
an assess the success.  Out of this they must provide a lessons
learned and assessment as to what needs to be the focus of the next
round.  This will not only help the IA, but it will build living
knowledge that can reside within the group.  Practices and processes
must be documented in some format as a deliverable.  The funds must be
made available for these pieces.
 
> Anyone who left NY in 2001, it is time to come home. Why? well there
> are jobs here now and they are exploding, especially in the agency
> market, from what I have seen.
> 
> Now for the IxD market which is mainly software based, this is not so
> true. But good IAs and general UX designers with advert, intranet, and
> e-com experience (the webbie side).
> 
> I have recently been interviewing with an agency, which uses
> contract-hire policies. I have noticed that they have very high turn
> over rates of employees, and thus have not been able to innovate ideas
> and retain those ideas in-house. They are so focused on making the
> current project, that they forget that as an agency they are
> responsible for more than that. They need to have R&D, so that they
> can do more than just copy or iterate (iteration is not the same as
> innovation). I realize this is a bubble burst thing, but the burst has
> been cleaned up and agencies need to start ramping up beyond the next
> project and putting some more fore-thought into their hiring
> practices.

This problem is not just NYC, but in most agencies.  The focus is
always on producing and not improving.  Not only is it short sighted,
but it bad for the agency and their customer base.  Not only is R&D
important but so is having their people be a part of the larger
community.  Does the agency support writing, be it white papers or
articles, do they support speaking at industry events, do the support
learning and sharing within their walls?  These are some of the big
questions I ask when looking at where I will be next.  I find very few
places pass this test.  Learning, growing, and innovating are a very
important part of the design culture from my perspective.  There are
only a few agencies/consultancies that I would consider and I can
count them on one hand with fingers left over.

When I make my next step (it is coming rather soon) it may be to one
of the few firms I respect, go in-house to work on a project that
adore (I love the messy problems), or I will go out on my own and pick
projects that excite me.  When looking at free-lancing I expect that
most of my work will be outside of where I live and I will travel a
bit, but also I expect to use the full compliment of communications
tools available to keep intouch with the customer (I am seeing few
that do that).

All the best,
Thomas

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www.vanderwal.net